Pokémon/Characters/Elite Four

The Elite Four (四天王, Shitennō, lit. "Four Heavenly Kings") are a fictional team of four Pokémon trainers in the Pokémon world. The Elite Four, at any given time, is composed of four highly-skilled Pokémon trainers, forming the final challengers for any Pokémon trainer taking on the Pokémon League. They are similar to the Gym Leaders in that each specializes on a particular element or type of Pokémon, but they do not reside in a Pokémon Gym.

It is speculated that prospective Elite Four members are either promoted (such as the situation with Koga of the Fuschia City Gym), or merely nominated to become a member. Elite Four members can also become Champions through automatic succession (i.e. Lance, who was an Elite Four member in the Red/Blue/Yellow series).

A Pokémon trainer must defeat all eight of the region's Gym Leaders in order to be eligible to enter the Pokémon League. There, a trainer must then defeat all four Elite Four members one after the other. The player can save in-between, but cannot return to the overworld map. Therefore, if a challenger is defeated during this time, he or she must start over or reload a saved game.

In all of the regions the player must travel through a long stretch known as Victory Road (チャンピオンロード, Chanpion Rōdo, Champion Road in original Japanese language versions), and must pass through the Kanto Victory Road, when playing 2nd generation games, after defeating all 8 gym leaders in Johto. This stretch is strenuous, featuring many trainers with high-leveled Pokémon and many high-leveled wild Pokémon. Trainers inside of the area remark that, if the player can survive Victory Road, he or she has a shot at defeating the Elite Four.

It is to be noted that the Elite Four acts merely as a test of endurance - after defeating the Elite Four, the player has to challenge and defeat the defending League Champion to become the Regional League Champion. As the game does not provide a break between the Elite Four and the League Championship battle, some have considered the Champion to be a "fifth member" of the Elite Four. If the player defeats the Champion, the winning team is registered in the game's Hall of Fame and the credits roll, indicating the main campaign is over.

The anime, the Elite Four is a group of trainers who are generally viewed as the best around. It is considered an honor to meet and battle members of the Elite Four. It is called the Elite Four but there are five people to battle because the fifth is considered the champion of the pokemon league. Although the anime's main character, Ash Ketchum, has battled and befriended many members of the Elite Four, he has yet to beat one in battle. However, the Elite Four are greatly divorced from the Pokémon League championship, although they are involved in the affairs of the Pokémon League.

In the anime there are Elite Fours for each of the different regions (Such as Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh) Of the members of the Elite Four(s), Agatha, Lance, Bruno, Lorelei, Drake, Koga, Steven, Lucian, Cynthia, and most recently, Wallace have made appearances at the anime, although Lance is the only character to have made more than one appearance. Appointment to the Elite Four is briefly mentioned as being associated with the Pokémon League. It is also implied that being a member of the Elite Four has great responsibility, such as running a gym if the gym leader is no longer able until a replacement can be found. It is also implied that they must take on all challengers and if there is a problem too big for the police or a vigilante trainer to solve in which Pokémon are being abused, they will be the ones to step in. It is implied that a League Champion also earns the right to challenge the Elite Four in a manner similar to that of the video games, although this has never been seen in the series.

In the Sinnoh region, Lucian has appeared with his Girafarig and Bronzong. However, unlike the previous Elite Four members, Lucian introduces the entire Elite Four team in Sinnoh. This foreshadows that the entire Sinnoh Elite Four will probably eventually appear in the anime.

The original members of the Elite Four (Lance, Agatha, Bruno and Lorelei) had original intentions on completely wiping out the entire human race because of the way humans mistreat Pokémon through pollution, etc. However, Bruno was unwilling to cooperate and was under Agatha's mind control. The Elite Four planned on using the Badge Amplifier in order to summon Lugia to help completely destroy the human race. However, the plot was stopped by Yellow alongside Green, Red, and Blue.

The Elite Four of the manga, as well as their Pokémon, are also known to have special abilities. Lorelei, for example, has the ability to create ice voodoo dolls. Bruno's Hitmonlee is able to extend its legs and arms to lengths that normal Hitmonlees are not able to reach, while Bruno himself uses special Pokéballs that attach to nunchaku in order to gain an advantage when releasing Pokémon. Agatha is able to control human and Pokémon minds. Lance's Pokémon are able to change the direction of their Hyper Beams and his Dragonairs are able to control the weather. Lance himself is a child of the Viridian Forest, which makes him, like Yellow, a special kind of psychic that ables him to heal Pokémon and read Pokémon minds.

In the GSC saga, a new Elite Four is formed after the fall of Neo Team Rocket. Karen and Will are greeted by Koga and Bruno, two men who, like them, were once under the control of an evil leader. The four of them agree to join forces and help each other to overcome their dark pasts.

The Elite Four of the RS saga are completely different, however. They are indeed connected to the Pokemon League and are nothing but benevolent. The manga implies that they were the "runners-up" to the Pokemon Championship several years before, a position now held by Steven because Wallace forfeited the match.

The composition of the Elite Four has varied from game to game, because the player in the games competes in different regional competitions.

In Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen, which take place in the region of Kanto, the Elite Four is composed of:

• Lorelei (Kanna), a specialist in Ice-type Pokémon who collects many Pokémon dolls.
• Bruno (Shiba), a specialist in Fighting-type Pokémon who trains in mountains.
• Agatha (Kikuko), the oldest Elite Four member ever, a specialist in Ghost-type Pokémon, and ex-rival of Professor Oak (Yukinari Ōkido)
• Lance (Wataru), a specialist in Dragon-type Pokémon and cousin of Gym Leader Claire of Blackthorn City.
• The Pokémon League Champion is the protagonist's rival, Professor Oak's grandson (Blue/Red in the US and Green/Red in Japan).

In terms of the levels of the Pokémon the challenger must face, the Elite Four are the strongest. Their Pokémon are in the Level 53 - 65 range (51 - 63 in FireRed and LeafGreen versions). In FireRed and LeafGreen, after the machine on One Island is fixed, the levels of the Pokémon in the Elite Four increase to the 63 - 75 range.

In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, the main story takes place in the region of Johto, but the Pokémon League is still situated in Indigo Plateau. The members of the Elite Four, however, have changed:

• Will (Itsuki), a Psychic-type Pokémon trainer from a distant land
• Koga (Kyō), the Poison-type Pokémon ninja master, who in the previous games used to be Fuchsia City's Gym Leader
• Bruno, same as the Bruno from Kanto
• Karen (Karin), who uses the newly discovered Dark-type Pokémon
• The Pokémon League champion is none other than former Elite Four leader, Lance.

The levels of the Pokémon are lower than those in the R/B/Y series of the game, leading to some disapproval from players of the game. This time, the levels range from 40—50. The level change may be because they have much more advanced attacks than the Elite Four in Red/Green/Blue/Yellow and are programmed to think more efficiently than regular trainers. However, there is another champion to face after the second half (the Kanto region) of the game is completed: Red, and he is the playable character from the first generation games. He is the strongest AI-controlled trainer in any of the Game Boy Pokémon games to date. The levels of his Pokémon range from 73—81. Of new improvements in Pokémon Crystal, the Battle Tower can be challenged, in which opponents' Pokemon will be on the same level as your highest-leveled Pokémon.

In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the Pokémon League is located at the north of Ever Grande City in Hoenn. The Elite Four consists of:

• Sidney (Kagetsu), a Dark-type enthuasist.
• Phoebe (Fuyo), a Ghost-type specialist whose grandparents are caretaker of Mt. Pyre in Hoenn.
• Glacia (Pulim), who has travelled in cold regions before she came to Hoenn, specializes in Ice-type Pokémon.
• Drake (Genji), a Dragon-type expert who was saved by a Dragon-type Pokémon when he was in his 20s.
• Steven (Daigo), the Champion of Hoenn Pokémon League in Ruby and Sapphire. He specializes in Steel-type Pokémon.
• Wallace (Mikuri), the Champion of Hoenn Pokémon League uses Water-type Pokémon. He was the eighth Pokémon Gym Leader in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. In Pokémon Emerald, Wallace passed the post to Juan, who was once his mentor.

Steven was once the Pokémon League Champion in Ruby and Sapphire, but was upstaged by Wallace in Emerald. The level range of Elite Four in Hoenn is from 46 - 58, but some Pokémon and their moves were changed in Emerald.

In Diamond and Pearl, the Pokémon League is located at the top of a huge waterfall in the region of Sinnoh. These members unlike previous members (excluding Champions) are shown to have relatives in Sinnoh.

• Aaron (Ryō), a Bug-type expert who is said to be the leader of all Bug Catchers and Bug Maniacs.
• Bertha (Kikuno), an old lady who specializes in Ground-type, and bears an uncanny resemblance to Agatha of the Kanto Elite Four.
• Flint (Ōba), a Fire-type enthuasist whom the player meets in Sunyshore City. It is implied that the rival's temporary ally, Buck is Flint's younger brother.
• Lucian (Goyō), masters Psychic-type and is an avid reader. It is implied that one of the men who lives near Stark Mountain is his grandfather.
• Cynthia (Shirona), the Champion has Pokémon of no particular type. Her grandmother is the elder of Celestic Town.

The Sinnoh Elite Four level range is from 53-66, the strongest Elite Four in the Pokémon video game series.